Tag: january 2018

TCA’s Winter Press Tour – Day 2: FX Network

The FX creator with the most shows is undoubtedly Ryan Murphy, who presided on back-to-back panels Friday — one for a project about the 80s New York trans ballroom culture, Pose, but also his lavish second installment in the “American Crime Story” franchise, this one titled The Assassination of Gianni Versace that begins Jan. 17.

While many may recall the shocking shooting death of the acclaimed designer in front of his Miami Beach mansion, less well-known is the story of his murderer, who had been wanted by the FBI for a series of brutal killings.

Like Murphy’s initial installment of American Crime Story, The People vs. O.J. Simpson, this one has a dream cast that includes Venezuelan actor Edgar Ramirez of Carlos as the designer; Penelope Cruz as his sister Donatella, Ricky Martin as his lover, and Darren Criss of Glee as the murderer Andrew Cunanan.

“This certainly is a once in a lifetime opportunity that happened to be within the hands of the person that I had been creating other things with and who had been such a champion for me on Glee,” Criss said. “I definitely lucked out. I think a lot of actors have to wait a lifetime for something like this.”

While the O.J. saga never showed the murder, this one begins with it. But that’s the plan for American Crime Story, Murphy said.

“One of the joys about this show for me is that every season of this show will have a different tonality. The first season was very much a courtroom potboiler. The second season is a manhunt thriller,” he said.

Its third season, covering Hurricane Katrina, will be set in New Orleans’ Memorial Hospital, looking at issues of health care and global warming.

“So every different season of the show, unlike other things that we’ve done, is so different.”

TCA’s Winter Press Tour – Day 2: FX Network

_deannareeves_: Throwback to working on the American Crime Story, Versace promo!
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This was by far the longest set I had even been on! Well over 17 hours… but I got to wear a sick vintage Versace belt and play runway model for a day so who’s complaining?
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Hair and face beat by the fabulous @jlhessand @navarrohollywood
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Thank you to @karlwarden who gave me the weirdest/coolest summer jobs and the best agents @blocla
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#americancrimestory #acsversace#blocishot #behindthescenes #model#slash #dancer ?

Darren Criss finds way into serial killer’s mind in ‘Gianni Versace’ series

dcriss-archive:

LOS ANGELES – When the cast of “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story” shot at the fashion designer’s Miami home, the feeling was overwhelming, according to actor Darren Criss.

“You had this sense of that which was and that which was taken away,” he says. “This is where it happened. It was the stairs. It was the street. Everything is as it was. Only the stains have been removed.”

In the FX miniseries, Criss plays Andrew Cunanan, the man responsible for Versace’s death. A serial killer, Cunanan was responsible for at least five deaths, including one in Minneapolis that reportedly began his spree. Enamored with Versace’s extravagant lifestyle, he made his way to Miami where he shot the designer on the steps of his mansion. Eight days later, Cunanan committed suicide on a houseboat. Since he didn’t leave a note, writers have had to speculate about his motive.

To play the role, Criss says he had to find some kind of way into the man’s personality.

“Whether you’re a football player, a scientist or, in this case, a spree killer, you have to take into account not only the worst moments but also the best moments. You have to find as many common denominators between you and the person.”

In the series, creator Ryan Murphy and company show the life Cunanan led before he got to Miami. As result, Criss didn’t interact much with the other actors (including Edgar Ramirez as Versace, Penelope Cruz as his sister Donatella and Ricky Martin as his lover). He told one story; they tracked another.

“People wonder, ‘How could you possibly find something good with this person?’ But I want to find the good in everybody,” he says, “and exploit it as much as possible.”

Had the limited series been a murderous slog, the former “Glee” star never would have done it.

“When you think of the worst things that people have ever done, that moment is much shorter in the span of their life,” he explains. “Because he would separate himself in so many different ways, that kind of allows me to compartmentalize my own life away from him. Luckily, it isn’t 10 episodes of watching me lurk around, doing horrible things constantly.”

Because television is shot on a faster schedule than film, Cruz and Martin were surprised how prepared they had to be for each scene.

“The pace is breakneck,” Criss says. “I’ve been doing it for a while now and my mind is calibrated to that way of working.”

The days at the Versace mansion, however, were otherworldly.

“I had a moment when I walked in the building where I could really feel Gianni’s presence,” Criss says. “Not to be super hippy-dippy, but you walk into Versace’s house and you feel steeped in his oeuvre. Every design, for the most part, is Gianni Versace. I felt myself waking in there and talking to him.”

While the actors got to film in Miami for several weeks, many of the interiors were recreated on sets in Los Angeles. There, Murphy made sure there were little touches unique to the designer. Those who have been in both locations say the sets are startlingly accurate.

That sense of who Versace was – and why he proved attractive to Cunanan – is key to the series.

To make the necessary connections, Criss talked to several dozen people who knew Cunanan.

“Andrew was so many different personalities to so many different people,” he says. “We see him at his best. We see him at his worst. We see him at his most charming. We see him at his most hurt. It’s all over the place…and we really do get to know him as a person.”

“The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story” airs at 9 p.m. Jan. 17 on FX.

Darren Criss finds way into serial killer’s mind in ‘Gianni Versace’ series

Screener reaction at Gold Derby forums part 3

I recall two times when people are having sex, both gay and both wide shots.

What else do we have on the horizon that could upset this for limited series?  The first full review that came out for this was Dan Fienberg’s, which Metacritic scored as a 70.  That sounds about right to me.  (He was admittedly harsher on the first season than most; his review was an 80 for that, ten points lower than the Metacritic weighted average and it did not make his top ten for the year.)

It was just last year that the category was so packed and it seems pretty empty right now.  Mosaic might be nominated or it might go the way of The Young Pope, which was also quickly burned off by HBO in January.  Godless has its fans, but its Golden Globe and PGA shutouts do not inspire much confidence.  Will have to watch the three screener episodes of Trust that I have, but who knows if that will even be eligible?  Other possible nominees are The Long Road Home, Manhunt: Unabomber and Gunpowder, but none of those are winning.  Genius missed PGA, but maybe the next season is amazing?

The other full review that we have so far is much more positive.  New York Post critic Robert Rorke singles out “an excellent Finn Wittrock” and “future Emmy winner Jon Jon Briones”.

“The performances of the leads are outstanding, but special mention must be made of Criss, who beautifully captures Cunanan’s ability to tell the biggest lies anyone has ever heard and literally charm the pants off anyone he sets his sights on. He’s a lot like Patricia Highsmith’s Mr. Ripley, but Ripley was a fictional creation. Cunanan […] was sadly all too real.  Murphy’s ability to showcase well-known performers in surprising cameos continues apace with gems from Mike Farrell, Max Greenfield and even Cathy Moriarty as a wily pawnshop owner.  The Assassination of Gianni Versace is more personal and heartfelt than Murphy’s The People v. O.J. Simpson, and proves that when it comes to seductive allure laced with menace, no one in TV is Murphy’s match.”

Screener reaction at Gold Derby forums part 2

Watched the last two screeners that the press has, so I have now seen all but the finale of this nine-episode season.

#7 was the first one with an arc for Cruz that ran through the episode.  She was better in #2 though.  Then of course she, Ricky Martin and Edgar Ramirez were absent from #8.  It would not even surprise me if they all missed the finale.  It is not so much that their story is done as it was never theirs in the first place.  This is the story of Andrew Cunanan as played by Darren Criss, as well as the story of his victims, in reverse-chronological order.  Versace was his last, so we got to spend some time with Ramirez/Cruz/Martin early on, then the show moved on to before Cunanan had anything to do with Versace.  But because Ramirez/Cruz/Martin are big names under contract, the show randomly checks in with them.

Criss has been in all eight episodes, Ramirez has been in five (including one with only a cameo) and Cruz, Martin, Cody Fern and Finn Wittrock have been in four.  Somebody vaguely recognizable plays Cunanan’s mother in three episodes, but there were no credits on those ones and I cannot place her.  Max Greenfield (Schmidt on New Girl), Dascha Polanco (Daya on Orange is the New Black), Jay R. Ferguson (Stan on Mad Men) and Giovanni Cirfiera were in the first two.  Annaleigh Ashford (Betty on Masters of Sex) and Michael Nouri (Flashdance, Summer’s dad on The O.C.) were also in two.  Mike Farrell (Emmy nominee for M*A*S*H) has a notable one-off appearance as the husband of Judith Light’s character.

#1 and #8 are the best episodes.  Matt Bomer directs the latter and it the only one that runs over an hour.  The story of Cunanan’s childhood and teenage years, it features an excellent one-off guest performance by Jon Jon Briones as Cunanan’s father.  Who knew that Darren Criss is half Filipino?  I suppose that people usually do not think that I am half Asian either.

Sex is minimal in this show.  There is a lot of shirtlessness in the opening two Miami-set episodes.  Criss has some nice dancing and nude swimming sequences later on in the season.  Violence is not so bad, considering that this is a show about a serial killer.